Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Tuesday Lectionary Leanings - Everything New Edition

Anyone doing a series on Acts? If so, how's it going? If you're not doing a whole series, this might be a good week to dip a toe in. Make sure to read back a few verses to get into context, though.

Seems like Paul is supposed to be sort of hiding out in Athens while he waits for Silas and Timothy to catch up with him. Which he does in a typical Paul-ish way by arguing with everyone he meets in the town square. However abrasive his style, his message: "the God you are looking for, the God you dont even have a name for, the God who is in danger of getting lost in the forest of all the other things you are worshipping - let me tell you about that God..." is one that we could for sure take with us into our town squares (shopping malls? coffee shops?) today.

Or, maybe you are preaching about what Jesus commands us to do? 1 Peter is an option again this week. I, for one, have given 1 Peter the short shrift this time around - anyone want to rectify that oversight?

Those of you just back from Festival of Homiletics, please share your favorite pearl of wisdom with us. And everyone else, let us know what you are up to this Sunday. Comments are open for business.

What's that you say? You haven't seen the Brick Testament yet? Check it out here. Link to this week's texts found here.

16 comments:

I love the Brick Testament. Have you seen the Manga Bible? It leaves you wondering why there hasn't been a "Jason and the Argonauts" type movie of the Acts of the Apostles.I'm actually going to use the epistle this week because we have a baptism (two, actually, a new baby and his 5 year old cousin), but I'm undecided as to whether to pair it with Acts or John or let it stand alone. I'll be back when I have clearer thoughts.

I'm preaching on I Peter (see comment to yesterday's post) and I'm writing it right now. It's going to be so long that I decided to spit it all out in one day and then take at least a complete day away from it before I begin to prune.

I am going with the Acts passage (expanded on both ends for a more complete story). In this choice I am informed/influenced by Harvey Cox in The Future of Faith where he suggests that in terms of the faith landscape today's world (with its cosmopolitan, heterogenous nature) more closely resembles Paul's context than than it does the time of our grandparents.

My opening thoughts are here. My hope is that this will flow nicely (and yet independently since last week was a holiday weekend) from Sunday's discussion of John 14:6 and a pluralistic world.

Well, up here in the north country, camping season officially started last week and that means that nearly half of our folks will be gone. Those who stay are those who are not able (because of finances or health) to afford RV's and rent lake lots for the summer. The good news is I get to do lots of pastoral visits in shorts out at the various lakes. But back here in the city, it means that my congregation is quite different from the winter months, so I need to change my preaching style somewhat. I'm not sure what this will mean this week. I'm drawn to the Acts passage, but I'm wondering if John's "unrequited love" (thanks Kathryn) might be more suited to the congregation.

KJZ - "unrelenting love" will be the point, as I see it now. It's very early tho!

Songbird - I have a double baptism this Sunday, too, an infant and his 4 year old brother.

Seeing the Brick Testament makes me remember when my nieces introduced me to the Veggie Tales "Silly Songs with Larry" and I thought I would never laugh that hard again. That is, until my adult Bible Study group wanted to supplement our Old Testament study with the Veggie Tales version of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. The things we do for love!

Still just cherry-picking phrases out of all three readings...and so loving our discussions in the meantime. The 1 Peter is so delightful because of the way he gets himself completely bogged down in what was obviously so clear to him in his own mind...the patron saint of Saturday night, Peter.

I'm back from my vacation today, and I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do. I made the plan before I left the office last week that I would preach from Acts this week, but now I'm coming back into a week with a funeral and a few unbloggables. Not at all sure if I have it in me even write a sermon this week. Too. much. going. on.

So, I'm THINKING about doing something with Memorial Day, something I HARDLY touch in worship usually. We have a great "Cloud of Witnesses" banner that I started a few years ago. I pull it out on All Saints Day for sure, but have also pulled it out on other occasions like Memorial Day or when the sermon fit. People get to add the names of the saints who have died to the banner. I might do that with something that's more of a sharing time for Memorial Day.

Ooh! Or I could do something that we did in my youth group when I was in high school. We made pipecleaner sculptures - - 1 pipecleaner formed into a memorial for us, a reminder, of God's love and presence. I might work that in with the Acts passage actually, the statues of gods....

Totally thinking out loud here. I need to go back to the Scripture and see where the Spirit may blow.

I'm just back from vacation and think I'm going to preach the epistle, although I am not sure why. Like many of us, I feel like I have hammered the John text to death and I preached the Acts lesson the last time it came up. I have a wedding out of town Saturday which involved most of Friday, too.Frankly, I would rather stay home and begin clearing the trees from my backyard. We got nothing like Joplin - maybe just more rain/hail/straight line winds - but much of my neighborhood in East TN is trying to dig out from under masses of trees. No damage to house, church or car, tbtg, but the latest tree down at church is right outside the window behind the altar. So sad to lose and what will people look at during the sermon now???

Stephanie, thanks for the reminder about Memorial Day. Am preaching in two wildly different contexts this Sunday. Memorial Day and not leaving us orphaned seems fitting for the homeless shelter; unknown God for the alternative service filled with people who are just returning to church after a long time away. Thanks for the Harvey Cox tip, Gord.

I've been juxtaposing Acts and John in Eastertide, mostly because i find it difficult to preach John. I won't be preaching this Sunday - away at a family wedding - but I love Paul at the Areopagus! Love meditating on the known God as opposed to the unknown God...the God who loves us so much that God WANTS to be known to us. That ties nicely to the love-love-love John stuff.

On the other hand, having preached two or three sermons a week ad infinitum (or at least since I was on BE4.0) I am so very grateful that Amy P-T will be preaching for me this week.